


Treasured

by Voido



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonding, Christmas, Christmas Lights, Family, Fluff, Gen, Keithmas, Light hurt, Post-Season/Series 07, Presents, canon-divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 07:43:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17178716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voido/pseuds/Voido
Summary: A quiet, but firm argument could be heard coming from the living room.“Were you trying to kill them?”“Classic Regris.”“Programming stuff is my specialty, and I like bombs. I can’t help it.”---------------------It's the first Christmas after the war, and the Blade of Marmora collectively decide to make it the best one possible for both Keith and Krolia.





	Treasured

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fiery_Mullet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiery_Mullet/gifts).



> Dear Kei,  
> I hope you like this piece of family bonding! It was something entirely new to write for me, but I had fun with it!  
> Merry (*cough* slightly late) Christmas! <3
> 
> (In case anyone wonders why the Blade members are alive: Because they deserve to be and I want them to. (^: )

Silence filled the Blade of Marmora’s temporary headquarters. It was different from any place they’d ever operated from before; open, not at all secretive. The low levels of security were alarming, although there currently wasn’t anything they truly had to fear.

“I have convened this meeting for a special purpose,” their leader, Kolivan, spoke from the head of the table they were all seated around. To a stranger, it probably looked like an intense situation, but in reality, they were all pretty much at ease; discipline and order ran through their veins like water down a waterfall, and they’d lived too many centuries in order and preparedness to be able to simply  _ let go _ of their focused attitude.

“Not all of us are here,” came a voice from a few seats away, the speaker sounding firm and informative. It was a statement purely meant to name a fact, in case someone had missed it.

“I am aware of this,” Kolivan continued with a nod. “Our missing members are, in fact, the reason for this meeting.”

A few of the Blades looked up curiously, none of them hiding their faces anymore, for there was no reason to. Meetings like this one were in every way different from any they’d had during the war, so no one knew when to speak or not—the safest bet, in general, was to only speak when prompted to. That way, they couldn’t say anything wrong. One of them did eventually speak up, though.

“Does this have to do with the festivities the humans keep speaking of?”

It was Ulaz, who couldn’t hide a hint of amusement from his voice. He’d always been one to ignore orders and break out of the norm quickly, so it wasn’t a surprise that he would be the one to make the first remark. It was followed by murmuring between the members, that was cut short by Kolivan’s confirmation just shortly after.

“Indeed. I believe it has an important meaning among the population. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to explain...this.”

He nodded towards the whole room, which had been...rearranged, so to say, by the members of the coalition. Kolivan hadn’t known how to reply to the offer, and as the connection between Galra and humans, he had left the decision to their youngest Blade member, Keith.

_ “Go ahead. Don’t worry, it’s nothing dangerous,” _ he’d said, the tiniest smirk on his lips, without giving any further explanation. For confirmation, Kolivan had also given Krolia a questioning look, but she had only nodded curtly, apparently agreeing with her son’s statement.

And now they were here.

In a briefing room that was  _ festively decorated _ , as the humans had called it, with brightly shining balls and lights of all colors imaginable. It was a stark contrast to the unity of the Blade’s dark clothes, let alone their disciplined behavior, but it wasn’t unwelcomed per se. 

“I believe I heard one of the paladins speak of this event you’re referring to,” claimed Antok, his tail juggling with one of the red glass spheres. “Or, well,  _ scream _ .”

“Oh, so the one in blue,” agreed Thace with a scowl on his forehead. Surprisingly, this caused a wave of amusement to go through the group of people. They didn’t know too much about the members of Voltron, other than the stories Keith had told them in the time he’d traveled with the Blade, but a few strong features had stuck with them.

“What is the plan then?” asked Ulaz, because after all, there was a reason for this meeting. One that had to do with the colorful celebrations around them, and with the fact that neither Krolia nor Keith were part of the briefing.

“We have a mission to fulfill,” Kolivan explained with his well-known announcement voice. Every bit of chatter around him quieted down immediately, all eyes and every member’s attention on him.

“We’re starting now, and the plan goes as follows…”

 

Humans were weird, in a way.

Now, from all he’d seen of them before, this wasn’t really new information to Regris. They tended to run around aimlessly, then run back, shout, panic and were, most of all, way too loud. How was a soul supposed to think like this?

His goal was to gather intel, something he’d often been tasked with as a member of the Blade. His technology skills surpassed those of his team greatly, and he usually knew how to make good use of that—the currently given task, though, proved to be more difficult.

They knew absolutely nothing about human traditions; they didn’t really matter to them, either, considering most of them would be leaving the planet soon anyway to help with restorations throughout the galaxy, but right now, they had to gather enough information on the upcoming event the humans were so eager about, in order to fulfill their objective.

A small, flying drone with questionable attire came flying in his direction, followed by one of the paladins who was begging it to stop; speaking of attire, did drones even need something like that? What were the humans trying to do with this?

Regris decided to find out, caught the drone mid-air and inspected it thoroughly. Except for the weirdly-shaped hat and what seemed to be a cape, it looked like any other drone the empire had used.

“Thanks, uh…”

The girl came to a halt and stared up an Regris skeptically. If Keith was short—and he was, considering the fact that every other Blade outgrew him by at least a full head—then this girl was  _ tiny _ at best.

“What are you doing?” Regris inquired while handing the drone back. He wasn’t particularly interested in the drone itself—he’d seen countless numbers of them—but considering its appearance, it had to do with this weird festival, and that, he  _ was _ interested in. For the greater good, at least.

“I, uh,” the girl stammered and took a step back. Regris figured she was intimidated, which he couldn’t blame her for. It wasn’t his fault she was so short, though.

“I’m trying to program this drone so that it greets people and wishes them a merry Christmas, but all it does is crash into walls and disobey the code...I wonder where I went wrong…”

Mumbling to herself, she went off, seemingly having forgotten that she’d been in a conversation. That didn’t matter, though, because Regris had obtained all the information he needed. 

Now if only he knew where to find an unneeded drone.

 

Getting presents was, in itself, not too much of a problem. Ulaz considered himself good at finding out what people liked, and even though he wasn’t entirely sure why people gifted each other trinkets, he wasn’t going to question it. Human celebrations seemed to be carefree, in a way; pointless, but enjoyable.

But even though  _ acquiring _ the presents hadn’t been a problem, there was one part that left Ulaz extremely confused when he made his way back to the headquarters, and that was the fact that people seemingly  _ wrapped _ their gifts in colorful, silly-looking paper.

If they were trying to hide it, which would make sense in a way, then why in something so  _ conspicuous _ ? It had to be some sort of tradition, and that meant that he had to do the same thing.

With that arose problem number two, though: How do you wrap a knife  _ presentably _ ? Normally, it would be easiest to ask Keith about these things, but that was obviously impossible in this specific case, for Ulaz knew that telling someone about their present beforehand was said to bring bad luck. With that, Krolia was out of the question as well, and other than those those two, none of the Blade members had much knowledge about human culture.

That left Ulaz with the choice of not wrapping at all or asking someone else who would know about it; which made it simple enough, because he wasn’t going to show up with unpacked presents. After all, they’d promised to make it a perfect festival for both Keith and Krolia.

Ulaz would have preferred to ask Shiro about the matter, for he was the one of the group he knew best, but when he came across another of the paladins,  _ loaded _ with Christmas presents, he redecided.

“I have a question, blue paladin.” He stopped the young man sharply, seemingly startling him, for he almost dropped the boxes he was carrying.

“Actually, I’m the red paladin now,” he insisted, a poised grin on his lips, but then seemingly considered his attire. “I...guess the clothes make it kinda confusing...whatever. Question away, and good old Lanceylance will do his best to answer it.”

“Where do I find this atrociously colorful paper, and how do I wrap presents in it?”

He looked confused, for maybe half a tick, then his grin grew—if that was even possible—and he gently put the boxes down on the floor so he could properly pose in an extremely needless way.

“I’m  _ so _ glad you asked,” he said then, which made himself chuckle, but then he caught himself and seriously continued:

“Is this about Keith? Don’t know why else you wouldn’t ask him.”

Ulaz nodded affirmatively.

“Hah, yeah, makes sense. Okay, cool, I can help. I have, like, more family members than fingers, so I’m a  _ master _ at wrapping gifts, you could say.”

He was also a  _ master _ at talking way too much, about things that only he understood, but his help did prove to come in handy, for less than a varga later, Ulaz found himself with properly boxed, neatly wrapped presents. He didn’t dare ask what the ribbon on top was supposed to be good for, but since the paladin had one on each of his own presents as well, it seemed to be quite normal.

Or, well, as normal as humans could ever be.

 

It wasn’t like Antok  _ understood _ the humans’ obsession with small, colorful balls made of glass, but he couldn’t deny liking them a lot himself. They were light, a bit cold and perfect to juggle with. There was only one problem about them—

Something shattered.

“Again? They’re supposed to go on the tree, not the floor.”

They were incredibly slippery, which made them extremely hard to catch after throwing them up in the air, but it was too much fun to do for him to stop. Besides, he’d gotten so many of them that it wouldn’t hurt if one or two broke.

“I know that, Thace,” he replied and opened another pack of shining orbs. “Maybe if you’d brought a properly-sized tree, that wouldn’t be a problem and I would be done by now.”

“It is properly-sized,” Thace argued, checking the tree from top to bottom, but he didn’t sound too sure of his own words—rightfully so, because the plant felt incredibly displaced, taking up approximately half of the already small room.

“Maybe it’s a bit big,” he admitted then. “Or the house is too tiny.”

Actually, that made sense, too. Antok had a relatively hard time not hitting his head whenever he needed to pass through the door, after all. It didn’t matter, though, because they lacked the time to get another tree, even if they knew where to get a shorter one.

“Why are there glass shards everywhere?”

He turned around to face Acxa, who was leaning on the door frame, eyebrow raised a bit warily. She was carrying plates with food that were almost as colorful and shining as the lights and decoration in the room, placed them on the table and picked up a single piece of glass.

“Sharp,” she stated matter-of-factly. “I’m sure they can easily cut through skin, too. Wouldn’t want to meet Krolia after Keith hurts himself on one of those,” she sang while leaving the room again, but she’d definitely conveyed her message.

New mission: Get rid of all the shards before anyone could get hurt on them.

  
  
  
  
  


Something was odd upon coming home, Keith noticed. He hadn’t initially planned to go back to his old house, probably  _ ever _ , but somehow, it felt right to see it with his mother, especially now that the war was over. He knew it had been empty ever since he had—forcefully—abandoned it as a kid, and he’d never really wanted to go back before; too many bad memories lay here, too many reminders of an unfair past that he knew he hadn’t deserved.

Now, though, things had changed. He’d found not only his mother, but a family that cared for him. It was a little sad that his father would never be able to meet them, but even so, Keith could finally look at the house and call it  _ home _ again. It hurt, but he would be okay.

…

Or so he hoped, because there were lights on inside the small building, chaotic sounds and voices that he recognized, but wasn’t sure if he heard them correctly.

“What’s going on?” he asked his mother, who had come to a halt next to him and was inspecting the situation as well, a doubtful frown on her face. Keith had invited the rest of their family to join them for the holidays, obviously, and they’d arrived before the two of them, alright. So far, so good, that was all according to the plan, but why was it so  _ noisy _ ?

“I have no idea,” Krolia replied, although the her lips were curling up to a faint, knowing smile, as if she was catching on. Keith, who  _ wasn’t _ catching on, decided that it would be for the best to find out what was waiting for them sooner rather than later, and carefully made his way over to the door. Was there...Christmas music playing inside? He couldn’t help the grin forming on his lips and opened the door, finding it unlocked.

He took exactly one step in before something came flying his way; it didn’t leave him much time to inspect it, but he would’ve sworn it was a flying plush hippo. There was no way for him to make sure of that, though, as the object literally  _ exploded _ right before him, showering him in glitter and tinsel, let out what faintly sounded like the words  _ Merry Christmas _ , and fell to the floor. There was a moment of dead silence—with the exception of the music in the background—and then Keith found himself laughing, the smoke scratching in his throat, but he didn’t care.

A quiet, but firm argument could be heard coming from the living room.

“Were you trying to kill them?”

“Classic Regris.”

“Programming stuff is my specialty, and I like bombs. I can’t help it.”

They kept arguing even when Keith made his way over to join them, a smile tugging on the corner of his lips, but it turned into a surprised gape when he saw the interior reconstruction of the room.

There was a tree in the corner—not a simple fir tree, as you would expect, but a  _ holly _ , so big that it covered half of the room up to the ceiling; it was  _ massive _ . A solid million-or-so Christmas lights and ornaments were draped over it, blinding Keith a little, and he noticed that a quarter of the tree seemed empty. He wasn’t sure if that surprised him, because the holly was so huge that he wouldn’t dare count the amounts of orbs and stars and lights hanging on it.

Everyone was sitting around the table firmly, although Thace and Regris had turned around to inspect the damage done to Keith—which was non-existent, by the way. The glitter-spying drone had exploded just far enough from his place for him not to get hurt, but he was still covered in colorful, glowing paper shreds.

His wolf, wearing a questionably fashionable christmas hat, was laying calmly next to the chimney, wiggling its tail excitedly upon Keith and Krolia’s arrival.

“Merry...Christmas?” he asked carefully, smiling at everyone before looking up to his mother when she came to a halt next to him, seemingly amused.

“So this is why you asked us to be late, I see.”

It was a mess. The tree came way too close to the fire dancing in the chimney, the whole room was  _ loaded _ with bright decorations, the music was both extremely bad and extremely loud, and everyone seated around the table was stiff and on edge. It was  _ such _ a mess.

Keith loved it.

“You didn’t...have to do any of this,” he insisted. He hadn’t celebrated Christmas in years, couldn’t even remember the last time he’d given or received a gift for it, and now he was back home, in the place he’d grown up in, surrounded by the people who meant everything to him, and he couldn’t help but wonder if and how he deserved any of this.

“We did, in fact,” Thace insisted with a short nod. “It was all on account of the leader’s orders.”

“The mission has been accomplished,” Kolivan agreed with a nod, hands calmly folded on the table, but a smile tugging on the corners of his lips. He was always so firm and down to business, which made the instances where he opened up about things all the more pleasant.

“Presents are under the tree, as ordered,” Acxa explained before nodding towards the two empty seats around the table. “But first, dinner.”

“You made this?” Keith asked while sitting down, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

“Your paladin friend was of splendid help, but I’d say I did quite well, too.”

It turned out that she was right—the food was great, although that wasn’t what primarily made Keith feel warm and happy. The thought of being here had initially triggered bad memories in him, he couldn’t deny that, and part of him had been insecure about coming home. Now, though, seated between so many people he’d grown to cherish, he felt...he  _ knew _ that he’d be able to go on. After so many years of pain and insecurity, he finally knew where he belonged.

“Thanks...for all of this. It’s way too much,” he said firmly when everyone started stuffing both his and Krolia’s space on the table with presents. There was everything, really, from clothes to a pretty pocket knife to a pair of scarves that looked hand-knitted, although everyone claimed not to have made them.

“It was Kolivan,” Acxa whispered quietly as Keith was putting his on, causing him to chuckle. “He wouldn’t admit it in a thousand years, but I swear he was smiling all the time while making them.”

“Wish I could’ve seen,” Keith murmured into the fabric, smiling, too. The room was a little more quiet now, the music turned down, everyone caught up in small conversations, and he took it as his cue to go sit down next to the wolf, who immediately nuzzled against his side. Everything about this, from the place to the people to the oversized tree, it was all perfect, it was so much more than Keith had ever expected, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“Is everything alright, Keith?” he heard Krolia's voice before she sat down next to him, leaning their bodies together.

“More than that,” he insisted and smiled up at her, pulling her into a hug. As a kid, he’d often imagined what it would be like to spend Christmas with his mother, cuddled up in front of the chimney, listening to white noise and forgetting about everything else.

The reality was better than his imagination could have ever been.

It was warm, it was comfortable and, most importantly—

“I think this calls for a group hug,” came Acxa’s voice, teasingly.

Most importantly…

“That would be great, actually.”

It was forever.


End file.
